Chorizo on Fire

Back in December I tweeted about getting something in the mail from Portugal. For those of you who don't know, that's where husband is from originally, and most of his family still lives there. Well my father-in-law was nice enough to send some food goodies (I'm still amazed it got here without any hassle!) like wine, little bottles of Port, piri piri peppers, salted cod, and chouriço (we spell it chorizo in English because obviously we don't have the "ç" in our language).

I, being the cook in the house as well as the food lover, was all kinds of thrilled to be able to play around with new ingredients. The hubby, being the Portuguese man that he is, was thrilled because he got to have food that reminded him of home!

One of the first things he decided to cook was the chouriço. Now, I've never actually tried to cook this kind of sausage, therefore it was all up to the hubby to do this. First of all he boiled the chouriço, on recommendation from his father, for about 10 minutes. Next, he pulled out this great dish, that until then I had no idea what to do with.

This is basically a chouriço cooker. Assa Chouriço Portugal, is what is written on the front. I asked the hubby what "assa" meant and his response was that it is a word that means basically to cook, but used with a certain type of cooking, over flame or with fire to be more specific, though the term would be used if you were to roast something as well. So you can guess the excitement that this produced in the little one when he found out we were going to set something on fire!

In the bottom of the chouriço cooker, pour just a little bit of alcohol, by little I mean just barely more than enough to coat the bottom or there will be a huge flame and probably fire alarms sounding off, as exciting as this may be, it's really not that fun running around trying to shut the stupid things off or talking to the fire department and trying to explain why you were setting things on fire in your home... better yet, do this outside if you can!

Set the chouriço, with shallow slices along the top, on the "rack" of the dish. Using a long BBQ lighter or really long matches (like the kind for stoves and stuff) light that alcohol on fire. This will burn, pop, and sizzle at the sausage for a few minutes, just make sure to keep an eye on it, which of course shouldn't be too difficult, someone with even the worst case of ADHD usually gets captivated by fire :D. The outside will turn black and singed but don't worry, this means it's cooked and inside will be nice and tasty!

This is what you get when it gets done!! Yes, we all loved it, it was a little bit spicy but even the little one liked it. If you get the chance to have it this way please do!

Remember: If you aren't an adult don't attempt this please... by adult I mean old enough to drink alcohol legally or live in your own place (no, your own place doesn't mean in your bedroom at your parents' house) or possibly to be old enough to take full responsibility for burning down your home.

Despite my nick name I'm portuguese. I happened to find your blog through Foodgawker, and I really liked this post.I just wanted to give a little piece of my mind on how to roast/grill the chouriço: if you can finde, you should use some sort of Portuguese "aguardente" (similar to Italian grappa - which you can use) it will taste even better!And if you happen to find fresh "chouriço" (do not confuse with fresh sausage), one that's not too dry or hardened ,you don't need to pre-boil it, just go ahead and grill it.Nice blog, by the way ;)

I live in CA and have seen the cookers at various Portuguese import stores here. I bought one for us and one for me in-laws. I have not seen any recently but saw this online: http://www.portuguesefood.com/products/Chouriceiro-Pig-%28Large%29-.html

I love Chorizo cooked this way - it's so quick and easy and you can't beat it with a round of Iberian appetisers. We sell them at http://www.iberica.com.au/Pottery/assa-chorizo-1/assa-chorizo#.UYDi84IuEsY and ship worldwide.